Mullanpur: Shubman Gill has been a “bit too tight” since his T20 comeback as he has been trying to “justify” his place in the side but the Indian team management wants him to free up and play like he does in the IPL, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has said.
Gill was brought back into the T20 setup with the Asia Cup in September after he led India to two famous Test wins in the drawn five-match series in England. He replaced Sanju Samson at the top but runs have not flown from his bat, raising questions ahead of the T20 World Cup at home in February-March.
After the loss in the second T20I against South Africa here on Thursday, ten Doeschate said Gill needed to loosen up a bit in the shortest format.
“Taking on the captaincy the way he did in England and how well he led and how much pride he took in that performance, I think an element of that carried over into what he wanted to do in the T20 side,” said the assistant coach after the 51-run loss that left the five-match series tied at 1-1 for now.
“So if anything, he was too caring and maybe a little bit too tight. Like I said, towards the back end of Australia, the talks were around freeing up a little bit more, trying to relinquish that responsibility. (It was) certainly in that capacity where you feel like it is all about you and you really need to justify your place in the team.
“We don’t want him to do that. We want him to play as freely as he does during IPL seasons. We believe in his class and we believe he will come good,” added ten Doeschate.
Judging Gill unfair: Nehra
New delhi: Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra is not amused by the snap judgements being passed on skipper Shubman Gill’s form, cautioning that writing him off after a couple of outings in the volatile T20 format reflects the growing tendency of arriving at quick conclusions.
Gill, who made a comeback to the T20I set-up as vice-captain during the Asia Cup, has totalled 181 runs in the last 10 games at a below 140 strike-rate. Forget three months, had IPL been three weeks away, I (still) wouldn’t be worried. Because you are talking about a format like T20. And only two matches have been played against South Africa, if I am not wrong,” Nehra said.
Nehra feels that the fundamental problem with criticism in India is reaching a conclusion on the basis of numbers alone. “This is our problem. In such a fast-paced tournament format, whether it’s international cricket or IPL, if a player like Shubman Gill is judged after not coming good in two to three matches, then it will be difficult,” Nehra said.